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Breast Health Esteem To Motivate Breast Health Behavioral Intentions: An Application Of The Terror Management Health Model, Emily P. Courtney

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is a pervasive disease affecting millions of people, and a family history of the disease can put individuals at a significantly higher risk of developing breast cancer over the course of one’s lifetime. In turn, women with a family history often perceive themselves as more susceptible to breast cancer. Further, women who have lost family members to breast cancer likely associate the disease itself with death to a greater extent. In addition to this increased risk perception, women with a family history might intertwine breast health with feelings of esteem. It follows that those feelings of esteem should …

The Role Of Apkcs And Apkc Inhibitors In Cell Proliferation And Invasion In Breast And Ovarian Cancer, Tracess B. Smalley

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Research has demonstrated that the atypical protein kinase C-zeta (PKC-ζ) is a component of many dysregulated pathways in breast and ovarian cancer, including cellular proliferation, survival, and cell cycle upregulation. Breast and ovarian cancers affect women every day and are second and fifth leading cause of cancer death. Women who seek treatments are commonly met with invasive surgeries or chemotherapy. Protein kinase C (PKC) is a family of serine and threonine phosphorylating kinases that have been shown to modulate and transduce signaling cascades that play roles in the development and survival of cancers. Atypical PKC (aPKC), have been heavily suggested …

Walking Each Other Home: Sensemaking Of Illness Identity In An Online Metastatic Cancer Community, Ariane B. Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly, online settings serve as primary social contexts for patient interaction, playing a crucial role in ways participants access medical information and turn to each other for support. Stage IV (metastatic) cancer patients like myself know what it is like to be overwhelmed by the complex array of medical tests, treatments, and information we are expected to assimilate. My late stage disease status necessitates I routinely grapple with not merely the kinds of support I think I need or how those needs will be met, but also what meanings I assign to my experiences. Consequently, as a member of The …

Genetic Testing And The Power Of The Provider: Women’S Experiences With Cancer Genetic Testing, Dana Erin Ketcher

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Genetic testing has become ubiquitous in contemporary society, from determining ancestry to addressing health concerns. This dissertation focused on a qualitative, feminist approach to understand women’s experiences of genetic testing for hereditary cancer syndromes, as well as their perspectives of risk. A total of 33 participants agreed to a semistructured interview and drawing of their family tree (pedigree). Eleven (40.7%) participants had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and 16 (59.3%) participants with ovarian cancer. Thirty-one (93.9%) participants had genetic testing, and of those, 17 (54.8%) had genetic counseling. Participants voiced several reasons why they wanted to undergo genetic testing or …

Genetic Moderation Of Pain And Fatigue Symptoms Resulting From The Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction For Breast Cancer Program, Carissa Bea Alinat

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer survivors (BCS) account for the largest group of cancer survivors living in the United States and they often experience lingering physical symptoms that may affect quality of life, with fatigue and pain the most commonly reported. This genetic research study was conducted within a parent R01 study, with the purpose of exploring associations between genetic variants and fatigue and pain symptoms and the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction for Breast Cancer (MBSR(BC)) program. The aims of this study were to: 1) identify specific genotypes involved in fatigue and pain symptoms, and 2) explore whether single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs1800795 in …

The Use Of Textural Kinetic Habitats To Mine Diagnostic Information From Dce Mr Images Of Breast Tumors, Baishali Chaudhury

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) of the breast is a widely used non-invasive approach to gather information about the underlying physiology of breast tumors. Recent studies indicate that breast tumor heterogeneity may reflect the presence of different levels of cellular aggressiveness or habitats within the tumor. This heterogeneity has been correlated to the variations in the contrast enhancement patterns within the tumor apparent on gadolinium-enhanced DCE-MRI. Although pathological and qualitative (based on contrast enhancement patterns) studies suggest the presence of clini- cal and molecular predictive tumor sub-regions, this has not been fully investigated in the quantitative domain.

The …

Motivational Interviewing To Promote Physical Activity In Breast Cancer Survivors, Yasmin Asvat Patel

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Despite documented health benefits, most breast cancer survivors (BCS) do not meet physical activity (PA) guidelines. Hence, evaluating diverse intervention approaches to promote PA in BCS is imperative. Motivational Interviewing (MI) offers a non-prescriptive, client-centered approach to PA promotion that has not been adequately evaluated in BCS. In this randomized-controlled trial, 66 Stage 0-IIIa BCS within three years post-treatment, insufficiently active and contemplating increasing PA were randomly assigned to a MI intervention or an active control condition. The MI intervention implemented motivational and behavior change strategies consistent with MI principles. The active control condition provided education and prescriptive recommendations …

Statistical Models For Environmental And Health Sciences, Yong Xu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Statistical analysis and modeling are useful for understanding the behavior of different phenomena. In this study we will focus on two areas of applications: Global warming and cancer research. Global Warming is one of the major environmental challenge people face nowadays and cancer is one of the major health problem that people need to solve.

For Global Warming, we are interest to do research on two major contributable variables: Carbon dioxide (CO2) and atmosphere temperature. We will model carbon dioxide in the atmosphere data with a system of differential equations. We will develop a differential equation for each of six …

Parametric And Bayesian Modeling Of Reliability And Survival Analysis, Carlos A. Molinares

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study is to compare Bayesian and parametric approaches to determine the best for estimating reliability in complex systems. Determining reliability is particularly important in business and medical contexts. As expected, the Bayesian method showed the best results in assessing the reliability of systems.

In the first study, the Bayesian reliability function under the Higgins-Tsokos loss function using Jeffreys as its prior performs similarly as when the Bayesian reliability function is based on the squared-error loss. In addition, the Higgins-Tsokos loss function was found to be as robust as the squared-error loss function and slightly more efficient. …

Novel Roles For 185delag Mutant Brca1 In Ovarian Cancer Pathology, Rebecca J. Linger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Familial history is the strongest risk factor for developing ovarian cancer (OC), and a significant contributor to breast cancer risk. Most hereditary breast cancers and OCs are associated with mutation of the tumor suppressor Breast and Ovarian Cancer Susceptibility Gene 1 (BRCA1). Studying risk-associated BRCA1 truncation mutations, such as the founder mutation 185delAG, may reveal signaling pathways important in OC etiology. Recent studies have shown novel BRCA1 mutant functions that may contribute to breast and OC initiation and progression independent of the loss of wtBRCA1. Previously, we have found that normal human ovarian surface epithelial (HOSE) cells expressing the 185delAG …

Predicting Fear Of Recurrence And Protective Health Behaviors Using Protection Motivation Theory, Heather L. Mcginty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research suggests that fear of cancer recurrence is very common among cancer survivors. This study examined the extent to which Protection Motivation Theory variables of threat appraisal and coping appraisal accounted for differences in fear of recurrence and performance of health behaviors in cancer patients who recently completed treatment. It was hypothesized that greater fear of recurrence would be related to a combination of high threat appraisal and low coping appraisal. Also, it was hypothesized that higher rates of health behaviors would be related to higher threat appraisals for cancer recurrence and higher coping appraisals for reducing risk of …

Predicting Fear Of Recurrence And Protective Health Behaviors Using Protection Motivation Theory, Heather L. Mcginty

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prior research suggests that fear of cancer recurrence is very common among cancer survivors. This study examined the extent to which Protection Motivation Theory variables of threat appraisal and coping appraisal accounted for differences in fear of recurrence and performance of health behaviors in cancer patients who recently completed treatment. It was hypothesized that greater fear of recurrence would be related to a combination of high threat appraisal and low coping appraisal. Also, it was hypothesized that higher rates of health behaviors would be related to higher threat appraisals for cancer recurrence and higher coping appraisals for reducing risk of …

Temporal Registration Of Mammograms By Finite Element Simulation Of Mr Breast Volume Deformation, Yan Qiu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Clinically it is important to combine information provided by mammographic images from multiple views or at different times. Taking regular mammographic screening and comparing corresponding mammograms are necessary for early detection of breast cancer, which is the key to successful treatment. However, mammograms taken at different times are often obtained under different compressions, orientations or body positions. A temporal pair of mammograms may vary quite significantly due to the spatial disparities caused by the variety in acquisition environments, including the 3D position of the breast, the amount of the pressure applied, etc. Such disparities can be corrected through the process …

Breast Cancer: Relationship Between Acculturation And Barriers To Breast Cancer Screening In Southwest Florida Latinas, Patricia Patino

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite multiple campaigns by the American Cancer Society, reports indicate that Latinas living in the United States who contract breast cancer are more likely than Anglos to die. These findings correlate with low participation in breast cancer screenings among Latinas. The objective of this study was to identify key obstacles that influence Latinas' low participation in breast cancer screenings, based on their health beliefs, knowledge of screenings, acculturation, and socio-economic factors.The study was a face-to-face informal interview, combined with a survey questionnaire conducted at churches, social clubs and/or at the participants' homes in a southwest Florida urban community. The sample …

The Effects Of A Comprehensive Post-Treatment Recovery Program For Breast Cancer Survivors, Keri Ann Hockett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Background: Breast cancer and its treatment often result in side effects that persist long after treatment has ended. The increased survival rate for breast cancer has allowed for the study of the physical and psychosocial symptoms that persist into the post-treatment period. Although research has tested various interventions and demonstrated improvement in some symptoms, no standard of care exists for management of symptoms in the post- treatment period as part of the continuum of care. Objective: The aim of this research was to examine the effects of a comprehensive recovery program of education, exercise, and support for breast cancer survivors …

Application Of Support Vector Machines And Neural Networks In Digital Mammography: A Comparative Study, Nivedita V. Candade

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microcalcification (MC) detection is an important component of breast cancer diagnosis. However, visual analysis of mammograms is a difficult task for radiologists. Computer Aided Diagnosis (CAD) technology helps in identifying lesions and assists the radiologist in making his final decision.

This work is a part of a CAD project carried out at the Imaging Science Research Division (ISRD), Digital Medical Imaging Program, Moffitt Cancer Research Center, Tampa, FL. A CAD system had been previously developed to perform the following tasks: (a) pre-processing, (b) segmentation and (c) feature extraction of mammogram images. Ten features covering spatial, and morphological domains were extracted …